small_gaming_channels_on_youtubefandomcom-20200215-history
Uploading a video to Youtube
So, you've spent hours creating an awesome video and you're dying to share it with the world and upload it to your YouTube channel! No worries, it's not difficult to do at all. Here's a step by step tutorial that will guide you through everything you need to do to get your video out to the public! Step 01: Log in to YouTube and make sure you have selected the correct channel you wish to upload the video to. Step 02: Click the "Upload button on the top-right corner of your browser, right next to your channel's avatar. Step 03: A window will appear with a gray arrow logo. 1) Click on the little drop-down menu and select if you want to upload this video as Private, Public or Unlisted. (Private videos can only be seen by yourself. Public videos are accessible to anyone who browses YouTube and will be listed in YouTube's search engine and Unlisted videos can be seen by anyone who has the link to the video as they are publicly accessible, but will not show up in YouTube's search engine.) Additionally, if you are a YouTube partner, you will have access to the 'Scheduled' upload option. This allows you to upload a video and schedule it to release at some later date of your choosing. 2a.) Hover over the gray arrow and it will turn red. If you click it now, a window will appear where you can select the video you wish to upload, or... 2b.) Simply drag and drop a video onto the window with the gray arrow. A window will appear with the upload status of your video and a collection of other options underneath. The top bar will tell the percentage of how far along your upload is and, on the right side of the bar, it will tell you approximately how many minutes it will still take before your video has been uploaded. Beneath it, it will show your "Basic info" options. If you want your videos to be successful, fill in this information carefully and thoughtfully. Step 04: The first option is the title of your video. By default, YouTube will show the name of the uploaded file. It is a good idea to change this to something more catchy and applicable to your video. Your title is used by YouTube to catalog your video in their search engine, so using appropriate search terms in your video title also doesn't hurt. Go on, think of something creative :) Step 05: Up next is the description of your video. This section is meant to give your viewers a good first-impression of your video if they are inclined to read it before viewing the video. It is good practice to write a solid description that tells both your viewers and YouTube's search engine what can be found in your video. Since this tutorial was written with YouTube gamers in mind, maybe explain a little bit of the story that's going on in your Let's Play, remind your viewers of what happened last episode and how it ties into this one. If you can use the same keywords you have already used in your title, even better. Search engines love that and your video will probably rank better, but please refrain from inserting fake search terms that may be popular but are not applicable to your video. This could, over time, hurt your video's ranking in YouTube's search engine. Also, DO NOT '''use tags in your description because it is a violation of YouTube's TOS (Terms of Service) and will likely result in the removal of your video and a copyright strike. In this section you could also place links to your social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, etc.) and, if your video is part of an on-going series and you've already made a playlist for it, why not insert a link to the playlist for the whole series? If someone likes your video, they may want to see more. Go on, have some fun, write a few good sentences, or paragraphs if you have it in you, to describe your video and why it's awesome! '''Step 06: Up next, it's time to add some tags. Tags are used by YouTube to categorize your video and compare it with other videos. This has a small effect on how your video ranks in the search results, but mostly comes into play when YouTube is looking for videos to recommend to viewers. The words, or short phrases, that you insert here, should represent search words that users will use to find your video. a.) You can simply type the words directly into the Tags bar and, when you have completed one, just hit enter and type the next one. YouTube will try to be helpful and gives you a drop-down list of what it thinks you're trying to type, looking through these can also help to spark new ideas you hadn't come up with yet. b.) YouTube will also try to suggest Tags to you that it thinks will apply to your video. These suggestions are usually based on the description you just typed and any tags you've already entered into the Tags bar. Look through these as they are often quite useful. We know it can be hard to come up with these tags, but just try to imagine what people might type into the search bar of YouTube if they're trying to find videos like the one you are uploading right now. Or try to picture that someone asked you "Describe your video to me in five words" and see what you come up with. The closer the words apply to your video, the better. Try to think of five or ten words or short phrases that define your video. The title of the game you're playing would be a good start. Maybe "Let's Play" or "First Person Shooter" would be good ones too, depending on your video. Step 07: If you want your video to stand out form the rest, it's advisable to add a custom thumbnail to your video. This way it's unique and if you give your thumbnails a uniform style throughout your channel, people may even recognize that the video is yours, just from your thumbnails.*, ** a.) Click the "Custom Thumbnail" button. b.) Select the image you want to use and click "Open". After this the thumbnail will be automatically uploaded and applied to your video. If you want to change the image afterwards, you can simply click on the thumbnail image you uploaded and select another image. *If you don't see the option to upload a custom thumbnail: Custom Thumbnails are turned off by default and you will need to verify your account before YouTube will allow you to upload custom thumbnails. You can go to "Creator Studio > Channel > Status and features" to see if you have already verified your account and if the option for custom thumbnails has been activated. ** If you don't want to upload a custom thumbnail at this point in time, you can simply wait for your video to upload and, once it's done, YouTube will give you three options to choose from. But, since you want your YouTube channel and videos to look awesome and professional, we advise you create a custom, unique thumbnail. Step 08: If you want to change the privacy setting of your video (whether it'll be Private, Public, or Unlisted), you can still change it in the drop-down menu on the top-right. Step 09: If you've selected "Public" as the status of your uploading video, and for this tutorial we'll assume you do want to share your video with the rest of the world, you will be given the option to share your video on your social media as soon as it's uploaded. You can type a short, catchy message here to notify anyone who is following you on your connected social media accounts that your brand new video is out! The message you type here will appear on all selected outlets as soon as the video is done uploading and processing. Depending on your YouTube settings, this message could be posted on your YouTube channel's activity page, your Google+ page (this is connected to YouTube, so it will be selected by default) and on any external social media account you've connected to your YouTube account, such as your Twitter feed.*** ***To link various social media accounts to your YouTube channel, go to "YouTube settings > Connected accounts" Step 10: If your video is part of an on-going series, you may already have created a playlist for the series. Click the "Add to Playlist" button and a drop-down menu will appear with a list of all playlists you've already created. Select the appropriate playlist to add this video to. If you haven't yet created a playlist, you can do so by clicking the "Create new Playlist" on the bottom of the drop-down menu. Step 11: Click the "Publish" button at the top-right of your video and your settings will be saved.**** After this, you're pretty much done! Congratulations! Now, the only thing you have to do is sit back, relax and wait for the video to upload.***** After the progress bar on top of the page reaches 100%, the status of your video will change to "Processing". This basically means that YouTube is re-encoding your video for its preferred quality/file-size ratio and this can sometimes take a little while, so please be patient. ****If you've chosen to upload your video as either Private or Unlisted, the "Publish" option will simply either say "Save Changes" or "Done" instead of "Publish" *****Do NOT close the upload window/tab in your browser while the video is uploading and processing. This can interrupt the process and have you start all over again. Uploading/queuing two videos simultaneously: If you want to upload another video while you're still waiting for your current video to upload, or maybe make a list of videos to upload overnight, you can do this in the following way: a.) Click the "Add more Videos" button on the bottom-right. b.) Select the video you want to upload next and click "Open" The new video upload will appear underneath the current on and will be marked as "Pending Upload". As soon as your current video has finished uploading, YouTube will automatically go down the list and upload and process the next video. You can, however, already fill in all of the information as you've just done for your first video, so the video is ready to be shown to the world as soon as it's uploaded. Additional Options: Under most circumstances, these steps are enough to fully equip your video for its purpose. It may not be a bad idea though to click on the "Advanced Settings" tab. Here you can select a wide-variety of options (quite a few of them have to do with legal matters that aren't directly applicable to Gaming Reviews or Let's Plays), among which is the category of your video and the language setting for your video. If you filled in everything correctly while creating your channel, this should be correct by default, but just take a gander and see if anything needs to be changed so your gaming video doesn't end up in the "Gardening" section of YouTube for instance. Category:Guides & Tutorials Category:Youtube Category:YouTube